‘I have no idea what to expect,’ Bergevin says of No. 25 pick

It looks like Marc Bergevin hit the jackpot with his first draft pick as general manager of the Canadiens, selecting Alex Galchenyuk with the No. 3 pick last year.

Galchenyuk made the team as an 18-year-old and played in all 48 games, posting 9-18-27 totals and an impressive plus-14 while displaying skills that should thrill Habs fans for a long time.

Bergevin’s job will be tougher this year since he won’t pick until No. 25, unless he makes a deal to move up.

“I have no idea (what to expect),” Bergevin told NHL.com. “When you’re picking 25th there are a lot of things that can happen in front of you. Last year we only had two picks ahead of ours, so we had a good idea of where we were going. This is completely different.”

The Canadiens have six picks in the first three rounds, more than any team, including three in the second round. The Canadiens will pick at No. 25, 34, 36, 55, 71 and 86.

“Especially the early seconds, Nos. 34 and 36, those are really good picks,” Bergevin said. “They’re appealing picks.

“We could have six (picks), we could have four or we could have eight,” Bergevin said about the possibility of making moves. “Everything’s possible. We’ll talk to teams about moving up or making some changes, but I think in the last two days before the draft is when teams will start really talking.”

At last year’s draft, the St. Louis Blues had the No. 25 pick and selected defenceman Jordan Schmaltz from the USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers. This past season, the 6-foot-2, 190-pounder played for the University of North Dakota, posting 3-9-12 totals and 31 penalty minutes in 42 games.

The Canadiens’ website put together a list of the Top 10 No. 25 draft picks, which went like this:

Any idiot could pick a decent player in the top 3 like MB did with Galchenyuk. Let’s see if this guy and his trusty sidekick Timmins can pick someone decent at 25th. This will take brains and acumen, two qualities lacking in the Habs’ scouting dept. Stick with what Central Scouting says instead of going to Belarus for the next AK46 or to a US High school for the next David Fischer or to La Belle Provence for the next Louis Leblanc. You couldn’t get a bag of pucks for all 3 combined. BTW Congratulations to the Blackhawks. What a great team and goaltender.

Dorval: Good luck hoping for some big bodies. The Habs have signed DD and The Cube and drafted more smurfs last year because Timmins has a fetish for small players who get mauled in the playoffs. The guy never played in the NHL and has no clue what it takes to win. He likes to create his own ‘National Geographic’ scenes of big wild animals killing small prey.

Regarding Scotty Bowman, it was not true that Pollock had annointed him as the heir apparent only to be overruled by the Molsons. Pollock and the rest of the Canadiens brass were behind the decision to hire Grundman. Bowman was seen as too fiery and there were concerns that he would gut the team in fits of pique. He was frequently demanding that Pollock trade this or that star after a bad game or a bad week, but Pollock wisely rebuffed those demands when they were unreasonable.

Grundman worked closely with Pollock for seven years and was seen as being a thoughtful and cautious manager who had learned the management trade under Pollock. He was a perfectly legitimate candidate. That things went south was a convergence of a lot of factors, and I suspect that Grundman takes more blame than is fair.

Grundman had nothing to do with Dryden retiring, nor the mysterious decline of Lafleur and Shutt. He is largely panned for taking Doug Wickenheiser by know-it-all fans with the benefit of hindsight, but Wickenheiser was most teams’ choice for #1 that year. He was bigger, stronger and had better numbers than Savard while playing in a tougher league. Basically, he was the wet dream of 75% of this website.

If choosing Wickenheiser over homeboy Savard was a crime, then we have to hold Pollock’s feet to the fire for choosing Mark Napier over homeboy Mike Bossy, which was arguably a more inexplicable decision.

Grundman absolutely made errors…the Langway, Engblom, Laughlin and Jarvis for Walter and Green was a bad trade that gutted the Habs of their defensive depth and is probably one of the worst in team history, even if Walter and Green were key contributors to the 1986 Stanley Cup.

The Pierre Bouchard mess in 1978 was also a black eye, but Sam Pollock himself had been consulted on that one and the Habs thought they had found a loophole. The NHL basically changed the rules and made it retroactive, allowing Bouchard to be lost.

I don’t claim any insider knowledge, but that’s the common wisdom, that Sam Pollock anointed his right-hand man as his successor, over Scotty Bowman, who left in a huff to take the Sabres’ GM-Coach position.

Irving Grundman, at best, just had the Reverse Midas touch. He bungled almost anything he had to deal with. In hindsight, with his criminal convictions taken into consideration, he was a colossally ill-advised choice for GM.

The Doug Wickenheiser decision was in one sense delicate, but the obvious choice to make, most everyone would have agreed.

Mark Napier was not so clear cut, but apparently the thinking was that since he played a year of pro hockey and survived, he was a better choice than Mike Bossy, who was thought to be frail. The Canadiens had another first-round choice coming up, they may have thought they could scoop up the young Laval Voisins scorer with that pick.

I’m not sure that it is fair to say he had a reverse Midas touch. The Montreal Canadiens were largely a victim of their own success, as other teams became very reluctant to deal with them after getting hosed so many times in the early 1970’s by Pollock. You also had more teams, and those other teams caught on to the importance of the draft after seeing how it helped Montreal stay on top.

Their drafting started to suffer as a result, and the fact that they no longer had ridiculously talented players who couldn’t crack their star-studded roster meant that the trade partners they did have were no longer willing to part with significant players, forcing the Habs to pay higher prices in those trades.

There’s no question that Pollock was better than Grundman. But I think that Pollock got out at the right time, as I’m not sure his management style would have continued to work moving forwards in the new NHL.

Time has softened me on Grundman a bit, other than the Wickenheiser choice over Savard, which I thought was poor as well as being politically incorrect. Interesting you acknowledge that Walter and Green had a big part in the 1986 cup win yet think it was a bad trade. Let’s not forget that the team had had 3 early playoff exits by the time the trade was made. In hindsight they were trading Langway for Green and Walter, because Engblom and Jarvis were past their due date, and Laughlin was a throw in. Yes they suffered a couple more seasons with a poor defence but ultimately the character of those two guys was worth its weight in cup silver, not to mention guys like Roy and Chelios coming up.

Re Napier, he was one of my favorite Habs when he was here, scoring 35+ goals 3 seasons in a row in spite of having little PP time. The above makes it sound like it was either him or Bossy, but didn’t a lot of teams besides the Habs pass on Bossy? Sure, Napier was part of those underperfoming playoff teams but there was a lot of blame to go around.

For the Habs, it was apparently between Napier and Bossy. And there was a lot of pressure to draft Bossy, as he was from Montreal and had starred in the city with the Laval National. I’m not saying Napier was a bad player (he actually had a good NHL career). But with the same hindsight that makes it a clear mistake to not have drafted Savard, one has to say that it was a clear mistake to not draft Bossy, who was the NHL’s elite goal-scorer until Gretzky came along.

Regarding the Langway trade, you have to put it in context. Engblom wasn’t on the downside of his career: he was actually coming off a season where he was named to the NHL 2nd All-Star Team. Langway basically demanded a trade, as he felt he had no future in Montreal, and he was ultimately the best player. At the time, however, it was Engblom’s departure that drew the most criticism.

Ryan Walter was my second favourite Hab as a kid, behind Naslund. And Rick Green was stellar in 1986, a defensive anchor that let the team get away with playing all those kids. But the loss of Jarvis, Engblom and Langway was an awful lot of talent to give up. In 1982, Engblom and Jarvis were both 27, while Langway was 25. Green was 26 and Walter was 24. The Habs got a little younger, but I think it is a stretch to say that Jarvis and Engblom were past their due date.

It’s always hindsight. No it didn’t look like they were past their due date at the time, but I don’t think either Jarvis or Engblom were as good playing for other teams as they had been for the Habs. My point was maybe not clearly made, that the team as it was structured then was not a winning combination (in playoff terms), and the team that included Green and Walter was, and they began to show it in the 1984 playoffs and through the rest of the 1980s. Exactly how much of the improvement and the Cup win were because Walter and Green were there is up for discussion, but few would disagree they both played a major role.

Engblom was greatd efensively, because nobody called him for clutching and grabbing, which he did all the time. He never did learn to make a pass up ice though

Thanks for the insight about Napier. No doubt Bossy would have been the better choice, but choosing Wickenheiser over Savard resulted in an even bigger gap of expectations vs performance. As you said, Napier had a pretty good career…he even had a couple of cup rings to show for it

The Langway trade was a success because you have to ask who got the best player and it has to be Ryan Walter and who was the first to win the Cup after the trade? Montreal. Almost all GMs said they would have picked Wickenheiser over Savard… A big centreman from the West over a small one from PQ, of which the Habs had Mondou and others. Who’d have guessed that Wickenheiser was jinxed. He was a wonderful decent young man but luck just was not on his side. May he R.I.P.

If I remember correctly, they had no choice on Langway. He wanted to move back to the US so they had to come up with a trade. I also thought that Green never got anywhere near the respect he merited. I can’t recall which of the Canada/Russia (or maybe some other multi-nation version?) series he played in but I remember all the pre-tournament commentary about how the opposition would go around him like a turnstile.

Once the games started, the tune changed and he was recognized as one our steadier defenders. The thing with Green was that he never lost a puck battle. He had no foot speed but his positioning was always great and he always came out of the corner with the puck.

You are correct, Langway demanded a trade out of Montreal and he limited their options.

Langway was a good player in Montreal but blossomed into a great player in Washington. Like John Leclair, this led to much hand-wringing but you could argue that they would never have reached their potential had they not left the Habs. The change of scenery and increased role was a pivotal step in their development into becoming NHL stars.

In my opinion, the Bernier trade is only the first for step for Toronto. I think they will go hard after Bickell and Clowe. They are the type of players they like and when you put them with Kadri, Van Riemsdyk and Kessel, they would fit well. Imagine if bernier plays to expectations and another play off between them and the Bruins with the added size and grit!

Clarkson would be the better signing, but may be too expensive for them. To do anything they need to shed some more salary. The poeple from the team 1060 in Toronto were saying this morning that maybe Phaneuf could be on the move. He is going into his last year and he may not be in the long term plans.

Yes, and they should be. They have been rebuilding since Burke got there…or at least in his 2nd year (the first year he believed they were a playoff team remember that? lol).

Meanwhile we have just finished year one of rebuild, so yes Leafs are ahead of us. The question is how quickly we can close the gab, it better not take us 2 gms to do it (as it’s taking the Leafs).

All teams go thru a cycle. Rebuild- playoffs-contender- playoffs-rebuild. The key is to get through the rebuild part fast, and contend for a long time. But it’s a cycle for every team, and Leafs are ahead of us at this time.

I live in TO. Apparently it’s a done deal that Clarkson is coming here. According to reporters etc. We will know in 2 weeks. They will go hard for a #1 center and only resign Bozak if they can’t get one in the next week.

they also need at least one Dman. so expect.. new goalie, new #1 centre, new mid range dman, and Clarkson. I think Nonis will do it.

Fans at one time read coverage of the Habs only during the season and it entailed game details. Then the print media added “commentary” but stated facts, not opinion. Then starting with the french media it got personal and added “scandal and innuendo” to sell more papers. Today, we have the Gazette hiding behind a blog that encourages the posers to do all the dirty work of gossip and hyperbole. Sometimes less is more!! Last point before I jump off the toilet, get a life people. There is no news in the comment section of any Internet site…only noise that is best ignored!

Lovely. It started with the French media. It all started with salacious chronicles of the lifestyles of Tour de France racers and Paris Saint-Germain strikers, was imported by the Montréal Matin, and the highbrow Gazette and Star never played along.

Briere is washed up and won’t help us. He might be useful to a playoff contender at low cost, like Gomez (but not quite as washed up).

Lecavalier isn’t washed up. Last season he would have had 20 goals and 65 points for a full season. He will certainly draw lots of attention. However, Montreal is not the best place for him. He is now a 2nd line centre, 2nd wave of the powerplay type player. This is not what the fans would be expecting.

Lecavalier has been injured. If healthy, he just turned 33, and he would out play and out produce Plekanec easily. I think everything depends on his medical report, but if he’s healthy I would make him an offer.

The Flyers are apparently planning to buy out Bryzgalov – a little mistake that will cost them $20M! They have to buy out Briere as well (not a mistake – check out his playoff stats for the Flyers – but he is no longer the force he was).

They are still on the hook for Pronger at $5M/yr for another 4 years because Holmgrem goofed in signing him to a contract that started after his 35th birthday.

They have to buy out Bryz and Briere just to get under the cap and afford the ridiculous $5.25M they gave to 35 year old Mark Streit.

It’s amazing. We gave him kudos for extricating himself from the Mike Richards and Jeff Carter contracts, and getting great value in return, but he jumped out of those bear traps, and then went ahead and promptly walked into a bunch more.

A sidenote on Pronger, friend is well connected with the Pronger family. Chris is really struggling, his peripheral is way off, and one of the side effects of his concussions is he is constantly feeling hungry. Apparantly his weight gain is getting him way up the scales. THe guy was dirty on the ice, but he was also a winner.

But there is absolute zero chance of him ever coming back to the NHL. But the Flyers are continually pretending he may in order to avoid cap issues. I wonder if the insurance company may want to get more involved and settle his contract, and if this would at all force the Flyers hands and make them deal with his 35+ contract.

I’m shaky on this, but isn’t it a moot point whether he’s injured or retired? Since the contract is guaranteed in case of injury? His retirement being caused by injury? Would there really be a cap implication?

LTIR allows the Flyers to exceed the cap by the amount of Pronger’s contract. But in reality Pronger has retired from hockey and therefore the 35+ contract would have to be bought out by Philly to get the cap relief. Instead the pretend that Pronger is hopefully going to return. It is cap circumvention in my opinion.

Ed, I think that is because, until a team exceeds their normal cap, only then does the LTIR exception kick in. Because Boston with Savard on payroll do not exceed, they aren’t utilizing the exception. Insurance is still probably paying the salary like Pronger, but they haven’t had to enable the LTIR Cap Exception like Philly now has.

My question is whether Chris Pronger or Marc Savard need to pretend that they’ll still try to come back. Even if they admit that they never will, does that make their teams unable to use the LTIR provision? Even if they come out and admit they’ll never play again, it’s strictly because they suffered a brain injury. So they’re still “long-term injured”. So they can practically be retired, but technically their contract is eligible under the LTIR dispensation. No?

A true Good Morning, west coast bud. More than the unbalanced alignment, it is the movement of one also-ran team (Winnipeg) west whereas an also-ran (Nashville) and a true contender (Detroit) came this way and smack-dab in the Habs’ division. This evoked an “oh-probably” (not to be confused with opprobrium) opinion from me when pondering the question, “Will the Habs have a tougher season
next year?” Cheers Normand.
“May you live in interesting times.”

“Come join our Bandwagon of Brothers (and Seven Ladies) Tour! Current stop: Torona Blue Jays (or Toronto Jays). Side excursions to Vinnieville. Cancelled due to lack of interest: Brieretown. Lots of Mystery but no Magic. For those looking for Occult insights, we refer you to Sgt. Lonely Pepper (pretty good music by the way) and Timo. Come one, come all, and bring Attitude!”

I wonder if the announced buyout of Kaberle means that Bergevin is targeting some player on the SFA market (or a player who is going to be bought out by another team). Otherwise, as krob said a week or two ago, why buy him out at all? Why not save the option for next year and then possibly exercise it on a longer contract?

It is strategic I think to keep options open. If they don’t buy him out they don’t have the flexibility if a player they want is available. By him barely playing this year it shows this was the plan for months.

I think Marc Bergevin is a straightforward guy, he doesn’t overthink things, and doesn’t hesitate to act. Tomas Kaberle is of no use to the team, Mr. Bergevin can cut ties cleanly, he does so and moves on, like he did with Scott Gomez. I think ending the intrigue is more valuable to him than keeping an amnesty buyout in his back pocket.

What an insane turnaround. Watching them play now they are finally gelling and pitching well with run support.

Question now is does Reyes slide right in while you are on a streak or do you wait? He is a great ball player but Kowasaki has helped give the Jays and is great defensively. His offense isn’t so hot
“Keep your stick on the Ice”

I just hope they don’t send Kowasaki down. He is good for moral. I expected more out of Bonafacio. He is fast and decent defensively but his offense is horrible. Aaron Hill would have been great to still have but he needed a change of scenery.

If indeed MLB does come down on the guys who were buying their Roids from that D-bag in Miami, could very well be Melky getting another suspension. Bonafacio could move to outfield thus opening space for Kawasaki in the infield.

I dont’ think Melky will get suspended for it this time as he served a pretty major suspension last year and didn’t MLB say that they would take that into consideration. Melky has been a nice addition. Great move by AA picking him up

Reyes is the real deal and an easy going team player. He has to go in, leading off, to set the table. Lawrie, gulp, not so sure. Gibbons is handling the bullpen very well, the rest will take care of itself. These guys are veterans.

If I’m reading this right, you think Vinny would sign a contract for a little over $1m per season? that is 4th line grunt money, he maybe past his prime but still would not sign for that kind of money, he isn’t Gomez, who I think was around $1m for SJO. If I could sign him for DD slot, I would do that but don’t believe he would ever come to montreal at this point in his career, high expectations that could not be fulfilled.

It’s good to see Coach Q taking some HIO advice following Game 3 of this final.

June 8, 2013 at 1:12 pm
Are the Bruins beatable?
Of course they are, and the Leafs in the 1st round provided the Template, yet both Ottawa and Pitt did not follow it.

The Bruins Achilles heel is its lack of mobility and quickness on the back end.

What the Leafs did was as soon as they crossed center ice, they dumped and chased…and then hit the Bruins Dmen, Chara included. This is where some size/strength/toughness, character and heart comes into play.

There was nothing fancy about it.
Forcing the big Bruins D to continually pivot, skate hard, then get hit took its toll – again Chara included, as he did not look like an all star during that series.

That is the way to beat the Bruins.
You cannot allow their Dmen time and space to make the simple play they almost always do when given that time and space.
Of course that takes courage and commitment.

Can’t see anyone signing Kaberle as he cannot play 5X5 hockey anymore and he defines ‘soft.’ If someone took a flyer on him, it would be a 7-8 depth Dman at minimum wage only.
Agree with your Vinnie-Briere thought.

WRT Kaberle, I agree, I surprised they didn’t try to trade while retaining salary. I guess the cap space was more important to the Habs, which is probably wise. He was out of shape after winning the Cup, probably after a summer of drinking beer in the Czech Republic, but now that he is fit again, he should be useful.

As for Vinnie and Briere, I would not mind the Habs signing a player like that at all. They both still have some gas left in the tank and the Habs have a hole in their top six. They don’t really have anyone ready on the farm. They could trade for someone, but they don’t really have enough depth anywhere for a trade to help the organization, so they would just end up either mortgaging the future or creating a hole in the line-up somewhere else.

Until the the Habs can restock the farm, the signing of veteran free agents to fill the gaps is a good strategy, IMO, as long as the term is not long. I remember many people being skeptical of the Robert Lang deal, but he ended up exceeding expectations until his unlucky injury.

True.
Just 3 years ago Leblanc was our future no.1 center. Francofone star. Now he looks like his ceiling will be 3rd liner, probably not even in Montreal. Sad to see that.
On the other hand, low picks that came here without expectations, like Gallagher, inspire a lot of confidence.

There are a ton of 1st rounders like Leblanc who were drafted high with a lot of talent, who will never play a game in the NHL.

Leblanc was injured, but regardless, he did nothing to prove he was ready to play top six in the NHL. He didn’t even start top six in Hamilton. A baptism-by-fire approach to prospects by throwing them in against the best players in the world and hope they blossom is a good approach for ruining players and getting a lottery pick.

I would rather see them sign a proven veteran and if a prospect like Leblanc comes to camp and takes their job, then you deal with that problem.

Gomez had more points than Cole last year and was praised by his coach in San Jose. I bet they resign him for cheap money. Gomez is paid for under 1.5 mill has a use in the NHL. At 7.5 per season he isn’t of use to anyone

Would be a puzzler if Sergei Vezina Bobrovsky were to leave before a big payoff (current salary $900,000) and after toughing out his earlier years of limited English-speaking skills and culture shock in North America. Is he the first Russian-born goalie to win the Vezina?

Habs will be in a tough Division (Hello Detroit, Take Off Jets!), so, as long as we can be eighth or better in the 16-team Conference (in contrast to the 14-team Conference) it won’t matter as much that our Division got tougher and the West’s got softer.

Only one more win for the good guys tonight!
Please! no parade for the Neanderthals this year!!

Chicago certainly plays the kind of game that I enjoy watching most. Bowman’s style of game has not changed over the many years he has been in the league, his son has carried on into Chicago, lucky them. Only wished more teams would play this kind of great hockey.

First a little history, Beliveau did not recommend they keep Mr. Bowman especially as a G.M. as he felt he was too excitable and would trade players on a whim.

2ND. Bowman went to Buffalo for about 8 years as G.M. and as a coach sometimes and they won…..nothing, zilch, nauta.

3RD. He coached the stacked Pittsburgh and Detriot teams and had success again.

4TH. He joined Chicago in 2008 after they had spent six years out of the playoffs. Finshing out of the playoffs from 2002 until 2008 they got high draft choices. Kane, #1, Toews #3. Seabrooke, Crawford, Bolan, Bickell etc.

Please note Bowman joined in 2008.

So to say Bowman is responsible for their success is something I would expect from an uninformed fan.

The system for getting players changed in the NHL. You could no longer sign 13 year kids to cards and have them for their hockey lives. Canadiens had an excess of these players in the late 60’s and it kept them strong through the 70’s when they started retireing.

The universal draft meant everyone was equal.

New York Islanders finished at the bottom for a few years and then became a dynasty.

If I were an advisor to Vinnie, I would point out to him that as an UFA who has only a few productive years left, the odds-makers will be ranking the 30 teams’ chances for a championship, so he can can factor in math in his choice of teams. If Vinnie were to play a long-shot, and trades in his golf clubs for a snowblower, and the team he chooses happens to win, he would become a Hockey Immortal.

Agreed! Also the Mtl scene would go wild with a Vinny. It would be the first French marquee player in a long long time. He may be past his prime but he is a true superstar.. maybe of the 2nd rung level but we havent had one for ages.

Vinnie is used to wearing shorts and flip flops all winter long since 1998. He has his Cup ring so maybe little to no motivation there. Maybe the next announcement if bought out would be, ” Hello Coyotes fans, please welcome Vincent Lecavalier.”

Agree, Ryder’s season tailing off may have been a blessing, as who knows if MB could have been swayed to pursue him. One play stands out it my mind of Ryder, the game against Washington and Ovie is carryin puck across the blue line. Ryder could have body checked him, thus ending the play, instead he avoids him and Ovie scores.

That was a very indicative play of what Ryder was or wasn’t willing to sacrifice to help the team win.

Any graduates of Dr. Recchi school of medicine here that tell us if Bergeron plays for Boston? I see Dr. Mckenzie of TSN has diagnosed Toews of having had some cobwebs, but will play tonight. Gotta love how these guys continue to diminish the severity of head injuries….

I know, but MacKenzie is one of the “revered” talking heads and he is usually a voice/parrot for the league. His message is to diminish concussions, Chicago absolutely is responsible for their decision.

In case anyone is concerned about how Kaberle will put food on the table, not to worry.
His career earnings before the buyout and limited 2012-13 season, were $34,019,043…before taxes.

His trophy room should be OK also.
While some NHL greats have never won the Cup, he will have his replica from the Boston days to go along with an Olympic Bronze.
Sometimes timing is everything in life…

Speaking about beans, my wife has insisted we cut back on expenses and so I am now on next to bare bones cable. My channel list aint worth beans and my position can be describes as untenable. The HAT may need to make an appearance.

No Seinfeld; lost one of the sports channel’ no turner movies… no comedy channel..

Looks like more expected DD bashing, but we’ll see how it all plays out.
He was signed as an undrafted free agent, so if we ever move him in the future whatever comes back as a return is a bonus.

I don’t know what happened to him last year, yet this was not the same player from the year before.

He is known as one that ‘enjoys’ life and one has to wonder if he was 100% ready in all ways to play when the bell rung to start last year’s 48 game sprint….for the most part he could not keep up with the play, was a step behind, and was on his butt more often than not.

Anyhow, from here he seems like a short term ‘serviceable transition’ center IF and until Eller and Galchenyuk are ready to take the Top 2 positions – this year or next.

A Cup contending team is never built around or possesses a Top 6 DD type unless he has superb tools and abilities such as a Patrick Kane.
DD is, and will never be, a Patrick Kane.

Morning Ron, your point about DD being an undrafted free agent is a good one. While I shared frustration with DD this past season, I think it will be better to judge him after this upcoming season. I think we will see a bounce back season from him. After that we can see how he fits long term with team.

Merry Summer, Merrytimes. I suggest thinking of Desharnais as one of “50” contracts and the angst over his cap-hit lessens. The long leash extended to Carey should at least be extended somewhat for Desharnais. Smaller players can have slumps too. I can still visualize DD in the thick of plays around the net, especially the one where Boychuk or McQuaid raked his stick across his chin when DD was on the ice. He doesn’t shy away from physical pain. I would still choose Galchenyuk, Eller, and Desharnais as the first three in a shootout.

Morning Guy,
You would take DD over Gallagher? Over Plekanec yes as breakaways were never his forte.
I do that ‘in front of the net’ visualize thing also, thinking about how are guys would survive 4 playoff series of the hatchet and brutally tough, big guy wars in front of the net.
“Cringe” seems to be the operative word.

Ron, are you implying that David Desharnais is a joy boy, him and his good time buddies? Flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention?

That’s the first time I’ve heard that, and I’d really want to know what makes you think that. Because what I’m inferring is that you’re saying he went on a Big Buff rampage and showed up to training camp out of shape. Just on cursory inspection, he still look very fit, with crazy traps and shoulders. I’ve said before, he looks like a middleweight wrestler.

We can knock him for his contract or drop in production last season, but we shouldn’t try to explain this by impugning his effort. No one ever said he was lazy or didn’t care or that he got too big for his britches, and neither was that apparent during the 24/7 documentary, he still was humble and self-effacing on camera.

UCE
What was mentioned was that DD ‘enjoys’ life. He didn’t look good from the get go and never caught up.
Lazy or didn’t care were not the questions, and why he mentioned in another article that he will be ready when camp arrives begs further questions such as why the need to say that and does he think he was not ready for the last one.

Again, I’m reading entrails here, and when he says he will be ready this fall, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s saying he wasn’t ready last training camp. The key piece of information is that he clearly states he doesn’t intend to change his summer training regimen. Usually, when a player had a crappy season due to not training during the off-season, they circle around the subject a little bit, bring up a nagging injury or other situation that hampered their usual routine, and then vow to rededicate themselves, with a new personal trainer or philosophy or attempt to add on muscle or shed a few pounds. From David, he says it’ll be business as usual, so I don’t think he and Pierre Allard have any issues in that regard, his fitness is not a concern.

Now personally, I squawked a little when I heard that, because I want him to go train with Ben Prentiss, but that’s just me and my Martin St. Louis issues.

The ‘don’t care’ segue was not necessarily directed at you, but you bore the brunt of it, I’m just getting tired of the way the conversation is going with regard to David. He had a disappointing season, and now the contract doesn’t look so good, but the narrative has progressed from that to the kind of opprobrium that was targeted at René Bourque last season, that he was useless and a terrible contract and we should buy him out, instead of the clearly useless Tomas Kaberle. Anyway, didn’t mean to pile it on you, sorry about that.

I think a comparable player to Bickell would be Fernando Pisani. He was a career 3rd liner until Edmonton’s run in 06 when he scored something like 14 goals in 26 games. Got a long term contract and did nothing of note after. Granted he was later diagnosed with a form of Leukemia, i still feel this is a good comparison to make.

I dont know if you are saying Byfuglien is now a bust? Admitedly he has some ‘shape’ issues but he can still be a force and get his career back on track.

Bottom line I think Bickell is for real. His adaptability and ‘bounce backs’ in the playoffs are indicative more of a player who has found his strides than a flash in the pan hot streak. It’s not like he’s scoring DiPietro (1993) type goals.. more like he’s doing what John Leclair did.. coming into his own, playing his own game, and getting the results of his consistency and plain old hard work.

In this one series alone he has gone from ‘marginal’ to a fully engaged leader in responding to Chara etc and not becoming an all out hapless goon.
He has outplayed Chara hockey-wise… and make no mistake about it he was ‘targeted’ by Chara and the Bruins as someone to focus on to undermine the Hawks team confidence. He stumbled and recovered in a short timeframe… unlike many of our players.

Bickell doesn’t have a long history of putting up points at the NHL level. Also, much of his recent success can be attributed to the fact that he’s playing with the 2 best offensive players on his team. If you took him off the top line, there’s no reason to think he can continue that success.

Bickell is going to get Eric Cole money and term at this rate… Be prepared to pay that much. It’s a big role of the dice unless you know the kid well (which MB does).

DD at 60pts is great value at his cap hit. Of course he needs to play like he did when he was between the Twin Towers to achieve that. I’m certainly one of the few left who thinks he will. Max and DD will have nice bounce back seasons and… when that happens.. the kid will have value again if you want to ship him. (I also think he’ll benefit from having Eller, Plex and Chucky take the bulk of tough match ups from the opposition…)

MT also wants a real enforcer apparently and I would imagine we could scrounge one up if we look hard enough. Still it will be tough to make the show next year. We’re still one year away from having Gio and Markov money to play with.

We’ll get there. Very curious to see who lands Bickell and at what price… (and Stallberg for that matter… He’ll come much cheaper…)

A little unfair. Given certain type players, DD can improve their production and effectiveness. But he needs those type players. Hey the GM and coach signed and keeps playing him.. it is up to THEM(the GM AND COACH) to put him either with the right type players or sit him. His ‘weaknesses’ are up front unhidden.. you either realize it and do things to ‘protect’ him or sit him.

Putting Gallagher and DD on the same line because Gallagher has character and grit is silly.. the game that Gallagher (and Pacioretty did this season)plays in no way reinforces DD’s ability or effectiveness nor does DD for Gallagher. In fact it means Gallagher is taking quite a beating for nothing.

A healthy Bourque and Pacioretty or better yet a Bickell Pacioretty and DD… well now you’re talking.

The way i read it here it would be anyone but Desharnais. Everyone was happy when he signed his new deal,it was about time a G.M. signed deal during the season and so on and so on… But last season he lost Cole to a trade Max Pac to injuries , the team did great but he still is to blame…I guess it always takes one in Montreal…

Never got the chance with the Habs. Don`t understand why the Habs traded for him. I was expecting Spacek to go but not against Kaberle.

Not convinced we delt properly with him. He is worth nothing cause we did not play him last season even though we had injuries and could have used his skills. Other teams know about this and are not willing to trade or acquire him for what`s left of his deal. Habs had no option but to buy him out.

I agree. There are just too many dmen of the same mold on the habs blueline. In a different situation he can still be a very useful offensive defenceman. You don’t get that many points every year over your career by accident. You have to give kaberle props for being a good pro with the way he handled the situation over the past year.

I agree. I don’t see where he fits in the teams plans a couple years down the road unless he is moved to left wing (which is where I feel he would be better off). He doesn’t have the foot speed to play a 200 foot game as a center like eller does.

I’m not a big DD fan but I also know that we’re stuck with him for at least this season ( MB is going to have to see if this signing was either pre-mature or the right move, he won’t be traded this year) For me, DD will have to be a plus 50 pt. player or a shutdown forchecker ala Carbonneau to be considered a usefull Hab.

Scanning the posts on the Jonathan Bernier deal, with posters asking who won the trade, and to me it’s so easy.

Ben Scrivens won that trade, by a mile. He gets to leave crazy Burke-and-now-Leiweke-ville, and goes to the palm trees and a cushy backup spot on a big, tough, loaded team, where he doesn’t have to answer 1967 questions or Phil Kessel questions or James Reimer questions. Instead, he slips out the door to go surfing or golfing, and nights when he doesn’t play he scans the crowd for starlets.

I think Mike Gillis in Vancouver just got a swift kick to the midsection. He can no longer use Toronto as a destination to help ramp up interest in Luongo. I really believe Gillis missed his chance to move Luongo to Toronto last season, which could at end of day be his demise in Vancouver.

I think we will see a real busy off season of trades, exciting for us Hab-Addicts who need hockey news to help us through our day.